GARDEN CLUBS.

Putaruru Press, Volume VII, Issue 311, 24 October 1929, Page 3

GARDEN CLUBS.

ACTIVITIES IN U.S.A. A correspondent of the Christian Science Monitor, writing from Fort Worth, Texas, describes the operation of the Texas Federation of Garden Clubs.

The major aim of the Federation is four-fold: the encouragement, of the small house garden, the stimulation of civic beautification, the improvement and beautification of highways, and the conservation of natural beauty. Plant testing—that is, what will do well in the different climatic and soil areas of the State—is being done in connection with home gardens. The Federation stands behind the development of the Texas Botanical Gardens at Austin, a part of the University of Texas, for which a supporting society is now planned. There are various test gardens in different parts of the State. Dallas now has two under way—a municipal rose garden and an iris garden presented by a business enterprise. Both are being sponsored by the Dallas Garden Club. Tyler, Texas, is known as a rosegrowing centre. Seventy-five carloads of rose plants, numbering 25,000 roses to the car, were shipped from Tyler during the present season to various parts of the United States. Many private gardeners are interested in test gardens. Mrs Ireland Hampton, of Fort Worth, a district j chairman of the American Rose Soci- ! ety, has more than 600 varieties of j roses in her home gardens. She is a 1 popular exhibitor at south-western flower shows, and has won many prizes with her favourites. Mr J. F. Wills, of Fort Worth, has a large investment in dahlias. From several hundred varieties he has selected twenty-five or thirty which have proved very adaptable to Texas. The best show-type dahlias have been j developed from a variety discovered j hear Jaurez, Mexico, just across the | border from El Paso. ! In Dallas Mrs W. R. Hughes has j an experimental wild flower garden | which ranks high in variety and rarity of plant life. Mrs Hughes is an en- ( thusiastic collector; in order to acquire

those plants which are now well established in her garden, she has travelled far and wide. Numerous localities in the south-west have yielded treasures that contribute to the beauty, usefulness, and value of her home grounds.

Vast experiments are being conducted in bulb culture in East Texas. Tons of good American bulbs are being grown of varieties formerly exported. Since the law forbids the importation of many foreign bulbs, this work looms up in increasing importance. A strip of land several miles wide apd thirty to forty miles long about Black Bayou, near Marshall, in East Texas, has been found a perfect habitat of bulbs.’ The land is full of all kinds of native bulbQus growth, which springs up wild every year. Plans to test all types of bulbs in this soil many having already been successfully tried are under way.

Civic beautification is being stimulated by the work of the garden clubs in many Texas cities. Garden contests with prizes are being held over the State. In Austin and Houston

garden clubs have been organised in the schools. Sixty thousand shrubs were distributed through the schools in Houston last year. School garden clubs in Austin do home planting and study conservation.